Bangalore: The former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar will be the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly with Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa according him that status and announcing in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that the Bharatiya Janata Party will be the principal Opposition party.

This follows the four legislators from the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led Karnataka Janata Paksha joining the BJP. Mr. Thimmappa said that he had taken note of the letters and accordingly accepted Mr. Yeddyurappa, U.B. Banakar, Gurupadappa Nagamarpalli and Vishwanath Patil as BJP members.

The strength of the BJP in the House has increased to 44, four more than that of Janata Dal (Secular). With this, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy loses his position as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Mr. Shettar (58) served as the Leader of the Opposition when S.M. Krishna was the Chief Minister. In 2005, Mr. Shettar was appointed State president of the BJP. He became Revenue Minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government in 2006.

In 2008, following the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections, Mr. Shettar was elected Speaker. However, he resigned from the post in 2009 and was inducted into the Yeddyurappa Cabinet as Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.

In July 2012, several BJP MLAs owing allegiance to Mr. Yeddyurappa sought the replacement of D.V. Sadananda Gowda as Chief Minister, and the BJP high command made Mr. Shettar the Chief Minister.